Railway



M. W. OLIVER.

RAILWAY RAIL SUPPORT. No. 426,050. Patented Apr. 22, 1890.

"Ill

1? .5. WITNEEEEEI. IPJVEPITEIR QNJL.YLMVCL. J7 .7-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES WHITE OLIVER, OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

RAILWAY-RAI L SU PPO RT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 426,050, dated April 22, 1890.

Application filed May 4, 1889. Serial No. 309,619. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Mosns WHITE OLIVER, of Lawrence, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Rail Supports, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway-rail supports situated usually at the joints or meeting ends of the rails and sometimes termed joint-fastenings; and the lnvention has for its principal objects, first, to concentrate the weight borne by a passing wheel at the POI 11h midway between the meeting ends of the rails and midway between the cross-t es next the joint, thus distributing the welght equally upon said cross-ties; second, to cause as nearly as possible an equal deflection of the ra ls at the instant that the wheel passes the olnt, and, third, to clamp the rails in such a manner as to make a joint-fastening.

In the accompanying drawings, n which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure I is a plan or top view illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 3 is a cross vertical section taken on line 00, Fig. 1. Fig. i is a perspective View of the plate E below described. Fig. 5 is a plan of the central P0111011. of the inner end of the plate D. below described.

A A represent the rails. B B are the crossties next the joint or meeting ends of the rails.

O is a fish-plate, and C a base-plate, the two being united by a connection 0 which conforms substantially to the shape of the rail. The base O has two extensions C"and .C", through which spikes may be driven into the cross-ties. The base-plate C fishplate 0, and connection O are all integral, so that practically the fish-plate extends down and forming a base-plate underlaps the rail.

D is a fish-plate, and D a basep late, the two being united by a connection D which conforms substantially to the shape of the rail. The base D has an extension D through which spikes may be driven into the cross-tie. The base-plate D, fish-plate D, and connection D are all integral, so that practically the fish-plate extends down and forming a base-plate underlaps the rail above the base-plate G.

E is a bearing plate placed centrally upon the base'plate D and beneath the rails at the joint. This bearing-plate E is comparatively short, while the base-plates O D are long, reaching from the outer edge of one cross-tie to the outer edge of the cross-tie on the opposite side of the joint. Thus it will be seen that the rail bears at its joint directly upon the bearing-plate E, the bearing-plate E bearin g upon the base-plate D and the base-plate D upon the base-plate O.

E is a lip on the bearing-plate E, which fits into a notch 01 in the base-plate D, whereby the plate E is held in its proper place.

H H are spike-holes, and I J are the ordinary bolts and nuts for bolting the fish-plates and rails together.

By means of the above-described construction the weight borne by a passing wheel does not first bear upon one cross-tie, beginning with one edge thereof, and then the other cross-tie, thus causing rocking of the crossties, but is sustained squarely by both ties at once, as the weight of said wheel is borne midway between the cross-ties and midway between the meeting ends of the rails, and is thus equally and evenly distributed between the cross-ties, and as the bearing-plate is narrower than the base-plates and the base-plates extend across the entire surface of both crossties.

If desired, one of the base-plates may be omitted without interfering with the spirit of the invention.

The base-plates and fish-plates may extend over more than one span between cross-ties, if desired.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the rail or rails A, bearing-plate E, provided with the lip E, integral fish-plate and base-plate D D D D provided with the notch d, and integral fish-plate and base-plate O O C C' 0, combined and constructed substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

' MOSES WHITE OLIVER.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. WILLIAMS, J. M. HARTNETT. 

